Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law Tuesday a ban on transgender student-athletes competing in collegiate sports inconsistent with their biological sex.
“Look, if you are a biological male, you are not going to be competing in women’s and girls’ sports in Alabama,” Ivey said. “It’s about fairness, plain and simple.”
In 2021, the governor signed a bill prohibiting biological boys from participating in K-12 girls sports, marking a steadfast commitment to the issue. This new legislation expands that policy to higher education institutions, including two-year and four-year public colleges and universities.
As it moved through the Legislature, the bill received widespread support from the GOP and murmurs of Democratic agreement, though the final votes fell across party lines. In recent years, there’s been a degree of bipartisan agreement on this aspect of policy in particular.
“Forcing women to compete against biological men would reverse decades of progress that women have made for equal opportunities in athletics, having separate teams for men and women is the time tested way to ensure that women have the opportunity to showcase their talents and be champions,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover), said. “Science tells us that similarly gifted and trained males are bigger, faster and stronger than females.”
In January, the NCAA issued new rules for transgender participation in college athletics.
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The organization proposed a sport-by-sport approach, allowing the policy for each individual sport’s national governing body to dictate transgender participation.
While Alabama’s law dictates sports participation based on biological sex for public K-12 schools and higher education institutions, the NCAA rules potentially conflict with the new legislation.
Alabama joins more than a dozen other states that have enacted similar restrictions. So far, there has been no retribution from either the NCAA or affected universities in these states, indicating a growing trend across the nation.
Grayson Everett is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270 for coverage of the 2023 legislative session.
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